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If you love cars, few sounds will focus your attention like the throttle snapping open on a free-revving V-8. And for 1997, the Camaro Z28’s LT1 exhales through big, attention-getting pipes.

Chevrolet Motor Division allowed us our first taste of the ’97 Camaro in race-pacer form at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. This particular car will be used to pace the NASCAR Brickyard 400 on August 3.

The standard Camaro seatbelts were in place, but we ignored them and buckled on the wide racing lap belts, tugging hard on the cinching strap. A twist of the ignition key revealed a basso profundo V-8 idle as deep as a Colorado mine shaft. Track officials have specified the 4L60-E electronically controlled automatic transmission because “it’s just one less driver distraction” when trying to corral tens of thousands of horsepower roaring up behind at mach speed. If there’s ever a time to avoid a missed gear, that would be it.

We squeezed the short-throw brake pedal and pulled the lever into Drive. The car surged and groaned loudly against its brakes. Then, with just a hint of tire squeal, we were off. As we left the pits and accelerated onto the track, the car shifted out of first gear, chirped the 245/50ZR16 Goodyears, and bit into second, rocking our heads backward.

When fourth gear was reached and the torque converter locked up, the Camaro’s 350-cube V-8 seemed to loaf along, barely above idle. Drive the car hard, and the transmission bangs into the next gear with a positive-feeling thunk. Drive gently, however, and the shifts are smooth and barely discernible.

The chassis, with confidence-inspiring stability, locked itself into a groove in the middle of the track. And the steering became a relaxed, one-handed deal, even tooling along at a vigorous 80 mph. With less than 150 miles on the odometer, the seat cushions felt firm and nicely contoured, but our experience is that these shallow buckets, necessitated by the lack of headroom, quickly become tiring. We’re hoping the seats receive an upgrade when the car gets a serious redo for the ’98 model year.

But wait, aren’t most race pacers heavily modified? How can a pace car provide a reasonable picture of the new production Camaro? Jon Moss says that although in the not-so-distant past, carmakers virtually redesigned street cars to meet the track’s higher speed, handling, and braking requirements, this ’97 was barely massaged for Indy.

The modifications comprise aircraft-style strobe lights for visibility; a blueprinted engine; a K&N low-restriction air filter; transmission, engine, and power-steering oil coolers; alignment changes to help the car gently track left at high speeds; a Walker low-restriction muffler; more-aggressive (Showroom Stock) brake pads for the four discs; harder upper and lower control-arm bushings; and higher-rate springs. Except for the engine tweaks and the strobes, the rest of these go-fast parts are available as regular production option 1LE.

According to Moss, the simple engine mods boost output from 285 to 325 horsepower. The gain is noticeable mostly at high rpm, but helped lower 0-60-mph times by about 0.2 second to 5.5 seconds. The quarter mile improved from 14.2 seconds at 100.0 mph to a stout 13.9 at 100.9.

Actually, the biggest change in the ’97 Camaro will be a revised interior, and all ’97 models will get the 30th Anniversary insignia on the seat headrests. Dick Almond, Chevrolet brand manager for Camaro and Corvette, explained that many of the changes were made to make the styling more appealing to female buyers, who now make up half of the Camaro’s loyal owner body.

Despite a mild cockpit freshening, the car’s instrumentation remains basically the same, but all of the hard angles are gone and dual cupholders are grafted into the center console. Almond says that, along with the aesthetic changes, engineers also went after the dash attachment points and contact areas to eliminate the characteristic squeaks and rattles that have plagued this firm-riding beast since 1982.

With aggressive styling that has barely aged since its ’93 introduction, a top-notch V-8 engine, a simple but precise suspension, powerful anti-lock four-wheel disc brakes, and a rugged, stable platform, the Camaro Z28 remains one of the world’s greatest performance bargains.-Jack Keebler

Horsepower

Torque

1997 Chevrolet Camaro News and Reviews

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